As I write this the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Professional have each been round for somewhat greater than per week now. They have been largely well-reviewed by nearly everybody who’s been capable of get their palms on one. However that is not to say that the lifetime of an iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Professional proprietor has been all sunshine and unicorns. Removed from it.
We, in fact, have the overheating scenario. That is an issue the place house owners of Apple’s finest iPhones really feel that their handsets are getting too scorching, making them uncomfortable to carry. Most assumed that was the fault of the super-fast new A17 Professional chip contained in the iPhone 15 Professional and iPhone 15 Professional Max however, it appears, that is huge of the mark. We’ll come again to that later.
Now, we’re listening to about one other challenge. This time house owners of the brand new iPhones cannot get CarPlay to work. It could be right down to cables, or it could be right down to VPNs of all issues. No person can actually agree on what is going on on proper now, however there’s one factor we will absolutely all agree on — being an early adopter generally is a nightmare.
Apple’s no stranger to launch issues
Plainly at any time when Apple launches a brand new iPhone we now have issues like this. A few of them are critical, some not-so-serious. However irrespective of which finish of the spectrum these issues are, they run the chance of defining a whole mannequin. Is that going to occur once more?
There are two examples that instantly spring to thoughts.
The primary? The iPhone 4 and what everybody affectionately termed “antennagate.” It was a problem that induced the iPhone to drop cellphone calls when individuals unintentionally touched sure components of its antenna. It was a large number, and Apple wound up giving everybody a free bumper case to cease their fleshy palms from inflicting chaos. In the long term, it was superb, however the iPhone 4 will without end be referred to as the iPhone that could not make cellphone calls.
Subsequent up is the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, two telephones that had been so skinny you may actually bend them within the center. Folks discovered that simply placing the iPhone 6 into their again pocket and going about their day was sufficient to make it bend. Not nice, admittedly. And it additionally had a “gate” of its personal. “Bendgate,” in fact.
There have been extra, in fact. The iPhone 7 made a hissing sound. The iPhone XS did bizarre issues to individuals’s faces whenever you took their pictures. New iPhones and issues are nothing new.
The iPhone 15’s flip
With that in thoughts, it should not shock that many individuals that the iPhone 15 has an issue or two.
There’s the iPhone 15 Professional’s overheating challenge which Apple now says is all down to a couple software program bugs — iOS 17 is doing issues it should not, one thing that’s little question compounded by a declare that some third-party apps are misbehaving as properly. There’s discuss of overloading the system, which sounds dangerous. However it’ll get fastened in future software program updates and Instagram, one of many culprits, already has a brand new replace out which may assist.
The newest challenge is CarPlay. Some iPhone 15 house owners say that they’re struggling to seek out new USB-A to USB-C cables that work correctly after they plug their new telephones into their automobiles. They cost superb, however MacRumors stories that really getting CarPlay to work is proving problematic. Anecdotally, I pulled a random USB-C to USB-A cable out of my drawer on iPhone launch day and it has been working superb since. Your mileage could differ, car-related pun however.
Amazingly, not less than one individual says that the difficulty is said to their VPN. “If a VPN is activated when the automobile begins, the automobile is not going to choose up CarPlay in any respect. If the VPN is disabled, CarPlay begins, then if I flip the VPN again on CarPlay crashes,” they are saying. All very probably true whereas additionally confirming the purpose that it is taken me virtually 700 phrases to get to — being an early adopter can suck.
It’s going to all be alright. Finally.
To be clear, I do not see something with the iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Professional that will not be fastened and forgotten in a couple of weeks. The CarPlay factor will both transform individuals utilizing cables that may’t deal with information or some bizarre iOS 17 bug that can be fastened in a future launch. The iPhone 15 Professional overheating challenge appears to be properly on its option to being fastened as properly, regardless of the panic surrounding the idea that Apple’s A17 Professional was the issue and would should be throttled.
All of those points may be fastened with software program and are a way in need of the {hardware} and design issues of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 6. And if all of us purchased our new iPhones in a couple of weeks as an alternative of on launch day, we might most likely by no means come throughout any of them. However we did not.
Why? As a result of though being an early adopter may be onerous, and though it means hitting the bugs earlier than Apple can repair them, we would not have it another means.
Roll on iPhone 16. I ponder what’ll be damaged come September 2024.